Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales St Thomas a

Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales

St. Thomas a’ Becket £ Born - 1118 £ Died - Dec. 29 th 1170 The Archbishop of Canterbury (England) Becket disagreed with King Henry II and was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral There have been several miracles in this cathedral

St. Thomas a’ Becket £After all the miracles, a shrine was put up in the cathedral £Becket was canonized a saint £People set out on a pilgrimage, to Canterbury Cathedral to pay homage to the shire of St. Thomas a’ Becket. Some believed that shrine had healing powers

Geoffrey Chaucer 1387 Chaucer wrote a free-verse poem about the pilgrimage to St. Thomas a’ Becket’s shrine. Canterbury Tales

Canterbury Tales SETTING: April, The Tabard Inn “Prologue”- 29 pilgrims, the narrator, and the inn host are introduced.

The Prologue £The 29 are spending the night at the Tabard Inn. £The Narrator says he will describe and repeat everything he hears no matter how offensive. £The Host proposes that each pilgrim tell 2 tales on the way there and back. £The best tale will win dinner at the Inn

Prologue The pilgrims are made up of all 3 divisions of class in medieval society: Feudal class The Church Merchant class

The Prologue £Chaucer’s characterization was unlike anything ever written before. £He creates a human encyclopedia by describing physical, social, mannerisms, beliefs, and morals of each character.

The Characters £After the pilgrims are introduced in the prologue each character tells his or her own tale.

THEMES £ Marriage-Chaucer was obsessed with relationships between men & women ¤The question was who was “the boss” Beast tales- Several character either acted like animals or were compared to and described with animal characteristics.